Marriage Equality as a Small Business Innovator

categories: Defense of Marriage Act, Gay Boycotts, Marriage Equality, Nonprofit Profiles

Published September 21, 2009 @ 10:55AM PT

Equal marriage

What's the best small business idea in the country right now? Well, if you judge that question by the number of folks who voted at social entrepreneurship Web site Ideablob, it's a group that's pushing for marriage equality throughout the United States.

The National Marriage Boycott (NMB) won Ideablob's August 2009 contest for "Best Small Business Idea," and in turn received $10,000 to help them get their organization off the ground. The NMB, which started at Stanford University shortly after the passage of Proposition 8 last November, is now poised to perhaps become the largest student-drive movement for marriage equality in the country. Their mission? To get people to say no to marriage until everyone has access to marriage rights under the law.

Sarah Masimore, the NMB's Chief Operating Officer, said that the money will accelerate the growth of NMB, bringing the campaign to hundreds of college and high school campuses. "Today we are in ten states. In a year we plan to be in every state, demonstrating that Americans care about equal rights regardless of where you live or whom you love."

And the best part? Ideablob announced that NMB won this award the same week that Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) introduced legislation in the U.S. Congress to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act. Coincidence? Probably. But together the two pieces of news make for some good marriage equality karma.

(Photo courtesy of stevebott's photostream on Flickr.)

Share this Post

Comments (3)

When will the right, religous, idiots, busy bodies, dictators, A@@ holes learn one simple rule for getting along in this world???

LIVE AND LET LIVE

Simple ain't it????

CFJ

Posted by Cherokee Fred Jesus on 09/21/2009 @ 12:05PM PT
- Report close
  You must be signed in to report content.
- Reply
- 1 person likes this comment. Like
For your comment to be published, you will need to confirm your email address after submitting your comment. In the process we will also create a Change.org account for you so you can track this and future conversations. Don't worry - we won't spam you. We just want to promote constructive dialogue and find that people are more respectful when they are not anonymous.

If you already have an account, click here to log in.

First Name:

Last Name:

Email:

Create Password:

reply to thread started by by Cherokee Fred
Check Spelling
- Email me when there are new posts to this thread
- Comment Policy
Cancel Reply
It's good that the National Marriage Boycott won $10,000 from Ideablob to campaign for the very important right of same-sex marriage. University, college, and high school students will prove important in spreading the message of equality. It's also good that Jerrold Nadler introduced a very needed and important bill to repeal the intolerant DOMA. President Obama is obligated to support that bill. Committing to no marriage until marriage equality comes is a strong move.

Posted by Edwin Bonilla on 09/21/2009 @ 12:06PM PT
- Report close
  You must be signed in to report content.
- Reply
- 1 person likes this comment. Like
For your comment to be published, you will need to confirm your email address after submitting your comment. In the process we will also create a Change.org account for you so you can track this and future conversations. Don't worry - we won't spam you. We just want to promote constructive dialogue and find that people are more respectful when they are not anonymous.

If you already have an account, click here to log in.

First Name:

Last Name:

Email:

Create Password:

reply to thread started by by Edwin
Check Spelling
- Email me when there are new posts to this thread
- Comment Policy
Cancel Reply
It does my heart good that a group I support won...

Posted by Thomas McHugh on 09/21/2009 @ 03:48PM PT
- Report close
  You must be signed in to report content.
- Reply
- Like
For your comment to be published, you will need to confirm your email address after submitting your comment. In the process we will also create a Change.org account for you so you can track this and future conversations. Don't worry - we won't spam you. We just want to promote constructive dialogue and find that people are more respectful when they are not anonymous.

If you already have an account, click here to log in.

First Name:

Last Name:

Email:

Create Password:

reply to thread started by by Thomas
Check Spelling
- Email me when there are new posts to this thread
- Comment Policy
Cancel Reply

Add a Comment

For your comment to be published, you will need to confirm your email address after submitting your comment.

If you already have an account, click here to log in.

First Name:

Last Name:

Email:

Create Password:

Comment

Check Spelling

Email me when there are new posts to this thread
Comment Policy

Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the ideas covered in the posts. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments that are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; that contain ad hominem attacks; or that are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion.

Author

Michael is the Communications Director for the Human Rights Program at Harvard Law School, and previously was Communications Director for Pax Christi USA, a progressive Catholic human rights organization.